


Fire Mirrors

by altairattorney



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Portal Secret Santa 2015, first game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 09:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5534012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/altairattorney/pseuds/altairattorney
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It always starts with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire Mirrors

**Author's Note:**

> My brief but intense Portal Secret Santa entry, for mandalorianmuppet @ tumblr. My dear, your prompts were my definition of writing heaven; and I actually had a hard time choosing one, because most of them I had already filled in my fanwriting career for this fandom. You told me you like scene recreations, you favour the fire pit, and enjoy character studies, but also Doug. So I decided to blend all I could into one. I hope you will enjoy this little gift. Best wishes and thank you!

It always starts with her.

It is her voice that heralds the disaster, whenever it sounds sweetest –

_it his her voice to seal the doors behind you, and you feel lost already –_

–  when her intentions, the only ones she had from the start, are only made sharper by the way she conceals them.

You cannot exactly watch it happen. The prison of the panels is a tough one to break. You have to follow the subject from afar, breathing through narrow slits, eyes in the walls.

This woman is strong; her limbs know the call of danger. You can picture her muscles tense as soon as she senses it. You must wait from above, restless, for her to appear –

_you hide and watch their muscles tense, bitten by the stiffness of death –_

– to see what she can do against an ocean of fire.

– _forced to see them fall to an ocean of green._

The platform moves in your tired field of vision. You curse the fan that occupies the vent, with its black and white static in the way. You must lead her to the back areas, now, at any cost. You must defend her.

_You must defend yourself._

She could be a physicist. Her eyes draw new trajectories with infallible precision, despite the glass that gets scorching against her feet. Your heart rushes out of your chest, and she leaps –

_and you plunge into darkness –_

towards a longer tomorrow.

You breathe out in relief. She cannot hear you. It doesn’t matter to you, anyway; you will follow her closely, across a reverse labyrinth.

And when she walks through the path you have left for her –

_and when you crawl to your first den, incontrovertibly escaped –_

you two can lean against the same wall, unknowingly back to back, and think of the same thing;

_you are safe._


End file.
